BEEVILLE — Mayor David Carabajal is expected to complete appointments to the Beeville Housing Authority board when the City Council meets again on Aug. 26.

The agenda for the Aug. 12 City Council meeting included an item that would have allowed the mayor to make appointments, but Carabajal was not at the meeting because of an illness in his family.

The BHA board has been experiencing some changes recently with some of the existing board members not being reappointed and other members resigning.

According to the information available at the office of City Secretary Barbara Treviño, board member Fred Morón resigned his seat on the board on July 1.

Board member Gary Cude resigned the following day.

Carabajal appointed Jessy Garza and Dr. John Hardwick to the board on July 24. The mayor said that he chose those two to serve on the board based on past managerial experience.

Garza had served on the board of trustees for the Beeville Independent School District and has been the director of the city’s Women, Infants and Children program. Hardwick retired as the district’s superintendent.

On Aug. 8, Carabajal appointed Kenneth Elsbury and Teresa Holland to positions on the board.

Treviño said one of two appointments to the board must be filled by a tenant representative. She said she had been told that the BHA staff has authorized tenants of the authority to apply for the board position.

Board appointments were part of a report released on Aug. 1 by the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The report indicated that the authority had not been holding regular board meetings.

The report was released following a recent audit by the office in Fort Worth. In it, the administration of the authority was criticized for not following policy in reimbursing travel expenses, salary increases and other financial decisions over a two-year period.

Auditors listed a total of $75,583 in questioned costs during that two-year period.

Beeville’s mayor has the sole authority to remove or appoint members to the BHA’s five-member board. Board members are then responsible for overseeing the executive director’s operation.

BHA Executive Director Viola Salazar-Maldonado has not commented on the findings of the auditors.

Gary Kent is a reporter at the Bee-Picayune and can be reached at 343-5220, or at reporter@mySouTex.com.